Current Swell

Abadabad

Mon, July 31, 2017

Doors: 9:00 pm / Show: 9:30 pm

Great Scott

Allston, MA

$10 advance / $12 day of show

This event is 18 and over

Tickets available at AXS.COM, or by phone at 855-482-2090. No service charge on tickets purchased in person at the Great Scott box office seven days a week 12PM-1AM, or at The Sinclair Box Office (Cambridge, MA) Wednesdays-Saturdays 12-7PM. Please note: Great Scott box office is cash only.

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Grammy-winning producer Jacquire King (Kings of Leon, Tom Waits, Norah Jones, Cold War Kids, Of Monsters and Men, James Bay) produced Current Swells third Nettwek Records Realease, When To Talk and When To Listen. Like all good rock ‘n’ roll should, When To Talk And When To Listentouches on all facets of the human condition, from the heartbreak and spurned love of first single “It Ain’t Right” to a pair of songs about loss that form the emotional core of the album. The group as whole found a new level of confidence on the recording. Some of that can be credited to King, who pushed Current Swell to find a new side of their artistic selves, Stanton says. “He would never say something just to say it.”
Current Swell's track record in its home country includes two No. 1 singles on iTunes Canada’s rock chart and a Top 10 record on the commercial rock charts in Canada for 2014’s Ulysses. But all signs point to When To Talk And When To Listen – an album of rich songwriting and vibrant musicianship – casting a much wider net.

A solid fanbase has taken the group across North America several times and into countries such as Brazil, where a pair of headline tours brought them to thousands of rabid fans. "We're very comfortable in certain parts of the world with our success," Lang says. "But I know this record is one that can take us to new places."

Now, it is time for Current Swell to push back. Lang says the group will take its music to the world this year, showcasing the heart and soul it took to create When To Talk And When To Listen.ne of the bright lights on the Canadian musical landscape.

But here's the thing with Current Swell. When it comes to the process of songwriting, touring and recording, the four friends from Victoria, BC, are compelled to improve as artists, to better what they did the last time around. Motion is everything to singer-guitarists Scott Stanton and David Lang, drummer Chris Petersen and bassist Ghosty Boy, so they decided to give an old partnership a new coat of paint.

During each of the four previous Current Swell recordings, Stanton and Lang largely wrote independently of each other, working in tandem only when the band got into the studio. For these sessions, the two bandmates sat down face-to-face on a number of occasions. The rules were kept loose on purpose, so that both could look at the other's creations in an unfiltered light.

"For this record, we really worked together, even if it was a half-finished song," Stanton said. "Sometimes, it was nothing but an idea or a chord progression or a melody, and we'd sit there and write an entire song together."

"That's how we did things when we first started writing together, years ago, simply because we lived together," Lang added. "It was fun to get back to what I feel like are our roots from way back then."

The early days of the group stretch back to St. Albert, Alberta, an Edmonton suburb where Lang and Stanton first met. It wasn't until their paths crossed again on Vancouver Island that the thought of playing music together came to fruition. Shortly after its first official gig, the band quickly became an in-demand attraction in Western Canada, backed by growing acclaim from across the country.

Theirs hasn't been a traditional career arc. Shortly after Current Swell came together, the members spent five months touring Bali, New Zealand and Australia as an independent act. A bold move, but one that has come to define the band's music-first mindset and catch-all musical approach.

Music fans across North America first caught wind of the group through "Young and Able," which became a word-of-mouth YouTube success in 2010. Not long after, the group broke big with 2012's "Long Time Ago," its first worldwide release. These recordings inspired fans from across the globe to create hundreds of tribute videos of the hits -- some of which weren't in English -- and opened new doors for the group.

The success of the album led to a run of dates across Europe, Australia, Canada and the U.S. These and other key festival dates (Byron Bay Bluesfest, Peats Ridge, Rock The Shores, Ottawa Blues Festival, Rifflandia Festival and more) would help to introduce the band's textured, deep-groove roots music (some of which is punctuated by Stanton's lap steel guitar work) to a larger international audience of both fans and music industry supporters.

With its core fan base demanding new music, the band slowly began showcasing its new material in concert during the summer of 2013. A half-dozen songs from "Ulysses" were in and out of the band's set at a few shows, which gave Current Swell immediate feedback on its progress, Lang said. "It's interesting what you learn in front of an audience. It is so easy to see what needs to be tweaked when you are playing it for someone who is a blank slate."

In the spirit of the historic poem after which the album was named, the band found itself on a journey through new, more concise terrain once it got into the studio. Current Swell spent the better part of six months recording "Long Time Ago"; the don't-mess-with-a-good-thing approach could have easily been employed this time around. Instead, the band knocked "Ulysses" out in 20 days.

"We got in the studio, put our heads down, got it down and we were out," Stanton said with a laugh. "It was so refreshing. We didn't overthink anything. As long as we could re-create it live, that was our only rule."

That was an important decision in the process, given all that Current Swell has achieved on stages across the world.

The band is at its strongest before a live audience, which isn't to say that it feels out of place in the studio. Especially not when they had a producer like Nathan Sabatino (Dr. Dog, Neko Case, Giant Sand) working his magic inside of Vancouver's iconic Greenhouse Studios.

"Ulysses" captures every bit of warmth the studio's massive Neve console could provide, as heard on "Rollin'" (a showcase for Stanton's exemplary slide work), the title track "Ulysses," rocker "Keys to the Kingdom" and the readymade sing-along "One Day I'll Be Rich."

Current Swell has every intention of adding to its international legacy with "Ulysses." There is an inherent sense of confidence in the group, one that comes from its years of shared experience. With so much set before them in 2014, there's no telling where the year will take the band. And in a lot of ways, that uncertain aspect of the journey is what keeps Current Swell bent on moving forward, Lang said.

"It's scary to set goals because you can fail. But as long as we see ourselves growing and not feeling stagnant, we have accomplished what we set out to do."

ABADABAD is dangerous, tape relic'd, guitar rock from a land of perpetual summers of dreamy ladies. These moments and dreams happen somewhere in Allston, MA.

Named one of NME’s Top 100 New Bands for 2012

The Wild – a hazy, tape-sparkle record that does its best to encapsulate the concept of ‘bittersweet’ in seven short tracks.- The Line of Best Fit

The handclap singalong stupendousness of 'All The Bros Say'; quite possibly the first song in a while that'll get nodding hipsters to move their feet a little. -This Is Fake DIY

'It's spectacularly accomplished, and the perfect riposte to anyone dismissing ABADABAD as just another, happy-clappy, beach-pop band. The Wild is far more sophisticated than that, Beach Boys sentiment tempered with a heavy dose of realism.' -The 405

“All the Bros Say”, feels slightly removed from this idea of a new chapter in life where everything is all of a sudden “grownup.” This track seems to convey the oddly relaxing rush of energy you feel in that moment where you roll up all of your useless, drama-fueled issues and punt them from your life. Tip-tap keys, beachy, hazed-out guitars, and an ever present bouncy, Abadabad-y riff escort you along to “Phase 2.1”. -Marc Piccolo (Visitation Rites)

No-Fee Tickets:

No-Fee tickets may be purchased at Great Scott 7 days a week from 12PM to 1AM. No-Fee tickets are also available for purchase at The Sinclair box office (52 Church St. Cambridge, MA) Tuesdays through Saturdays from 12PM to 7PM. Please note, box office is CASH ONLY.